5 Years Later: Remembering the 2010 Haiti Earthquake

This long-exposure photo captures lightning and its reflection in the water on the floor of a building under construction in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 19. Five years after Haiti was hit by a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake that killed anywhere from 100,000 to 316,000 people and displaced roughly 1.5 million, devastation is still keenly felt in the capital of the Americas' poorest country. Recovery has occurred in fits and starts: Port-au-Prince's landmark presidential palace and cathedral have not been rebuilt, but the number of "displaced" people has dwindled to the thousands. More natural disasters, political turmoil, a limping economy and a lack of building-standards enforcement have hampered the island nation's transition. Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

On Jan. 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti only 16 miles outside of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. By Jan. 24, 2010, at least 52 additional aftershock quakes followed affecting more than three million people. Buildings, homes and lives were completely destroyed in the disaster. Five years after the devastating natural disaster, take a look back at the destruction and how Haiti has rebuilt. Here, a mother and her daughter sit on the spot where her home once stood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Feb. 26, 2010. Photo: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Nearly all police stations, hospitals and medical centers were completely leveled in the earthquakes path of destruction. Because of this, ad hoc medical clinics were arranged around the city of Port-au-Prince and surrounding cities devastated by the earthquake. Here, a boy gets treatment from a United Nations Stabilization Mission for a head injury on Jan. 13, 2010. Photo: Logan Abassi/Getty Images.

Death toll estimates ranged from 100,000 to about 160,000 people, while the Haitian government estimated figures nearly double of that. Nearly 250,000 homes and 30,000 commercial buildings either collapsed or were destroyed the point of having to be rebuilt. This photo shows a small poor section of Port-au-Prince, Haiti where homes had completely collapsed following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck on Jan. 12, 2010. Photo: Logan Abassi/Getty Images.

A man struggles to remove himself from the rubble of a fallen school house after being crushed by debris when the earthquake hit on Jan. 14, 2010. Thousands of people laid buried and trapped underneath layers of debris waiting for help for weeks following the earthquake. Photo: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty Images.

For months to follow the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, rescue efforts continued in search of bodies buried beneath the rubble. Many pulled from the rubble were missing body parts and had to undergo amputation surgery with the minimal supplies and doctors available. Here, a woman screams out after finding the body of her younger brother on Jan. 14, 2010. Photo: Carol Guzy/The Washington Post/Getty Images.

Although aid to Haiti began flowing in the day after the devastating earthquake, it was spread thin and many who couldn't find their way to relief were left to fend for themselves. A few months after the earthquake, Haiti was also faced with a cholera outbreak due to unsanitary living conditions. The outbreak has killed at least 8,200 people as of Aug. of 2013 with conditions still threatening more lives. Here, a boy washes himself in puddled water in the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Jan. 31, 2010. Photo: Fred Dufour/AFP/Getty Images.

Rescue workers flooded in from all over the world including America and European nations. Here, French Civil Protection along with a Fairfax, Virginia County Fire and Rescue team take a break during rescue efforts to extract survivors from the rubble of the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Jan. 13, 2010. Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP Photo.

Makeshift villages made from tarps, tents and other rescue materials were formed immediately surrounding relief and response centers. Only 2 days after the earthquake had hit, more than 20 countries had sent military personnel to the country. By the end of the first weekend, nearly 250 tons of relief supplies ranging from food, water and medicine were quickly brought in to the country. Here, schoolchildren wait with their bowls for food to be distributed by the Haitian government in Port-au-Prince on Jan. 23, 2010. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

Women hold orphaned children at the Maison des Enfants De Dieu orphanage. Many countries including the United States have fast-tracked adoptions in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake. (January 20, 2010) JOE RAEDLE—GETTY

Members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Search and Rescue Team rescue a Haitian woman who had been trapped in a collapsed building for five days without food or water. (January 17, 2010) U.S. NAVY—GETTY

A protester carries a doll's head with an image of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hanging from a string during an anti-government protest demanding the resignation of the country's current president, Michel Martelly, and then-Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe in Port-au-Prince on Dec. 12. Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

Men search for items to recover in the rubble of houses razed by bulldozers in downtown Port-au-Prince on July 10. Demolitions began in June for construction of a new "administrative city," but the plan – hailed as a sign of post-quake rebirth by some residents – also set off a firestorm of criticism for creating a new wave of homelessness, with many poor renters given just minutes to vacate their dwellings. Dieu Nalio Chery/AP

While many rescue workers were involved in aiding the survivors, many were also sent to find bodies, alive or not, among the rubble. Although a death toll number was never formally reached, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people were killed in the earthquake. Here, a man walks by crosses set up as a memorial in memory of the tens of thousands killed and buried in the mass grave at Titanyen, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Jan. 11, 2011.Photo: Allison Shelley/Getty Images.

A girl walks past an abandoned helicopter at a camp set up for people displaced by the 2010 earthquake, in what used to be an airstrip in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 4, 2012. AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery

A child wades through a sea of styrofoam and plastic containers looking for plastic bottles that the family will sell for money in the slum area of Citi Soliel in Port-au-Prince, on September 13, 2011 Reuters/Swoan Parker

This combo of two photos shows a Jan. 19, 2010 file photo, top, of a U.S. Navy helicopter taking off outside the partially collapsed National Palace after the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne landed to provide security one week after a powerful earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a photo taken of the same location five years later on Jan. 10, 2015 where a lone Haitian flag hangs from a flagpole. The Beaux Arts structure was removed in 2012 but its successor has not been built yet, after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck on the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, Dieu Nalio Chery, File) (The Associated Press)

This combo of two photos shows a Feb. 15, 2010 file photo, top, of people selling goods outside the ruins of the old Iron Market, a month after it was destroyed by a powerful earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and photo taken almost five years later on Jan. 10, 2015, showing the market which was rebuilt by Haiti’s biggest employer, mobile phone company Digicel. The Jan. 12, 2010 disaster prompted a huge influx of international assistance, with governments and aid groups arriving to offer both immediate help and long-term development. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Dieu Nalio Chery, File) (The Associated Press)

This combo of two photos shows a Jan. 12, 2010 file photo, top, of the Twins Market the day it collapsed during a 7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a photo taken from the same spot five years later, on Jan. 10, 2015, where only a metal fence stands. One of the worst natural disasters of modern times, the Jan. 12, 2010 quake killed an estimated 300,000 people, damaged or destroyed more than 300,000 buildings. (AP Photo/Cris Bierrenbach, Dieu Nalio Chery, File) (The Associated Press)

This combo of two photos shows a Jan. 12, 2010 file photo, top, of Marie La Jesula Joseph praying outside the Cathedral the day it was destroyed by a 7.0 earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a photo taken five years later on Jan. 10, 2105, that shows the structure still in disrepair. Recovery has been uneven at best, plagued by poor planning and accusations of graft. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, Dieu Nalio Chery, File) (The Associated Press)

Only months after Haiti was rocked by an earthquake in January 2010, the country suffered its first outbreak of cholera in half a century. Five years on, amid an ongoing furore over the possibility that UN peacekeepers may have inadvertently introduced the disease to the country, Haitians continue to grapple with a crisis that has claimed more than 8,500 lives and made hundreds of thousands of people sick.
Pictures by Susan Schulman
(source:theguardian.com)

Against the background of the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti (Minustah), where the cholera epidemic may have originated, women from Mirebalais, 60km north east of Port-au-Prince, do their washing. Pictures by Susan Schulman

Haitians are still having to use rivers that were contaminated by the disease to clean their clothes, because – with only 12% of the required budget raised – the water and sanitation network has not yet been constructed . Pictures by Susan Schulman

This cholera treatment centre in Mirebalais is run by Partners in Health. Though it is not subject to the shortages and unpaid salaries that can afflict government facilities, the closure of other clinics means people are often extremely sick when they arrive. Pictures by Susan Schulman

Marie Viergellie Paul, a nurse at the cholera treatment facility in St Nicolas hospital in St Marc, north of Port-au-Prince, sits outside her home after hanging out her scrubs to dry. Pictures by Susan Schulman

At Camp Acira in Port-au-Prince, which was set up for those displaced by the earthquake, filthy canals crisscross the compound and overflow into homes when it rains, exposing residents to the risk of disease. Pictures by Susan Schulman

Altidor Miglina, five, sits at the end of her bed after returning to Camp Acira following six days of treatment at a clinic for a severe case of cholera. Her mother, Lisna Sajous, 29, said of her daughter’s illness: ‘She was so sick. I freaked out the night before I took her to the cholera treatment centre. She was so weak , she couldn’t even stand to poo. I was afraid she could die. I don’t know how she got it, but I think conditions here might be one of the sources’ . Pictures by Susan Schulman

Unlike many of those who arrived at Camp Acira, these people are still waiting to be rehoused. According to camp coordinator Jean Louis Elie Joseph, 6,000 families still live here . Pictures by Susan Schulman